The time is 1967. The final offensive in the Vietnam War leaves a small Midwestern town without its young men. In the throws of a seemingly endless war fought on foreign soil, two women and their daughters struggle to survive the loss of their men and their innocence in Dominique Cieri's newest play, Last Kiss.

On Wednesday, April 9, at 7:30 PM, the Centenary Stage Company's Women Playwrights Series will kick off with the workshop presentation of Cieri's latest work. Offered free of charge, the WPS is a developmental program dedicated to providing a working forum for the underserved and unique voice of women writing for the theatre today. Accompanied by refreshments and discussion with the playwright and the cast, the WPS series offers an opportunity for playwrights to collaborate with professional actors and directors, and receive input from the public while developing their work. The audience feedback becomes an integral part of the writing process. One play from the WPS is selected for full production in the subsequent professional Centenary Stage Company season.

About the Playwright
A resident of Denville, NJ, Dominique Cieri is a graduate of Rose Bruford College in Kent, England, where she majored in Drama. Playwright, Teaching Artist, and member of the Dramatists Guild, she has been designing and teaching playwriting and theatre workshops in New York and New Jersey for: Theatre for A New Audience, Irondale Ensemble Theatre, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Arts Horizons, and Artist Teacher Institute at William Paterson University. Cieri is the recipient of a 2003 Playwriting Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Her plays include: Pitz & Joe, which began which won the Davie Award for its presentation at Geva Theatre. Pitz & Joe was also nominated for the American Drama Critics Association Award and received its first presentations at the Dramatists Guild in New York, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Pitz & Joe has been seen at the Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Philadelphia Theatre Festival for New Plays, and has received subsequent productions in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Cieri's play For Dear Life was a finalist for Charlotte New American Plays Festival. Last Kiss was developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York with readings in the Lexington Summer Program, and Octoberfest 2001.

For more information about CSC and the Women Playwrights Series, call 908-979-0900.

Return to 2003 WPS Program